This study of mysticism in Hebrew Gematria
is dedicated in the loving memory of Mr. Gary Lee Belk and Mr.
Donald Wayne Belk, may they rest in peace.

We live in a world where the things that are
hidden from us represent zero responsibility. We cannot be judged
or held accountable for "hidden things."

Now, does this mean ignorance is bliss? No!
So just because I haven't taken the time or expended the energy
to learn, that does not release me from my obligation of what
is known! We do have a responsibility to understand what is revealed.
Hidden things do not include areas that we lack the ambition
to learn about! That being the position, we are addressing the
areas of what is KNOWN! The Torah requires responsibility in
the same way that our government does. If we break a law in our
government, we are accountable regardless. We are accountable
if we deliberately break the law. We are
accountable if we break the law out of carelessness. We are accountable
if we are ignorant of the law. Our government holds us accountable
for obeying all the laws within our government. So this means
that we are responsible for obeying the laws we consider stupid,
the laws we disagree with, the laws we consider outdated and
the laws we consider trivial, minor and unimportant!

Now, holy reader, we acknowledge our responsibility
to governmental law, at least to some degree. In the same fashion
we must transcend from non-governmental law to the Torah. If
we can understand our need to obey governmental law then we should
also be able to understand our responsibility to G-d's law, the
Torah.

Yet in both situations we grant ourselves
certain considerations, certain immunities to the law without
deep contemplation or consideration. Normally we grant these
immunities throughout the normal course of our day. It is automatic.
It is without thought.

- Immunities like parking in a handicapped space... We justify
these actions by thoughts like: "I'll only be a minute "
or "I'll hurry in and out ." Then there are the times
when we ourselves justify this because we feel handicapped, G-d
forbid!

- Immunitieslike paying
for work under the table. Again, we justify these actions by
our thoughts: 'I already pay enough taxes to the government.
This is such a small job I don't want to fool with paying taxes
on it. This is for another Jewish brother. It will save him money.
It will save me time and money. Who is being hurt? If no one
knows who cares? It gives my Jewish brother a little break. It
gives me a better price.'

- Immunitieslike eating
1-2-3-4-5 grapes in our local grocery store. We are buying the
entire bundle of grapes so why not help ourselves to a few before
we reach the checkout stand? This is fine if we are purchasing
grapes by the bundle, BUT if we are purchasing grapes by the
pound this is wrong. Say, for example, there are 50 grapes in
a bundle and we eat five, we may be stealing as much as 10% from
the grocer, G-d forbid! We may think,'A few grapes, what does
it matter ... ?' Yet stealing is stealing!

- Immunitieslike asking
our contractor to boost his charges slightly to cover the insurance
deductibles. This seems harmless but it is unfair to the insurance
company. Again, this is stealing. We are taking liberties-monies
that do not belong to us. It is a form of fraud. Yet most of
us do not consider this fraud. We think, we pay enough insurance.
We justify our actions because the insurance companies are rich.
We think, 'This is one way I can recoup some of my insurance
payments.'

Holy reader, there are so many ways to take
what does not belong to us, ways like lying, cheating, stealing
and many other methods that we justify. We do this without giving
it a second thought. It seems normal! Taking certain liberties
seems natural. We take certain liberties that are wrong because
we consider them quite trivial and minute!

Within the Jewish community we also take liberties.
Some we may consider trivial and others we simply don't want
to get involved in. We may see things or things may be brought
to our attention but because it's a member of our community we
choose to look the other way. On one hand this is understandable,
but on the other hand it is wrong. Too often we jump at the opportunity
to push Shabbos observance or kashrus or other obvious parts
of Jewish law. This exterior of observance is only show; that
is why I frequently refer to it as SHOWTIME or SHOWTIME Judaism.
So, on the one hand we look the other way on areas that we do
not want to be involved with, while on the other we promote exterior
Judaism.

This is not living in a way that promotes
the Torah!

When we do things like this it is like promoting
a cover-up. It is like participating in a conspiracy. For example,
do you know of anyone, of any individual, of any teacher, of
any rebbe or of any rabbi who may have improperly touched someone?
A lady who used to be employed by a Jewish school once related
this story to me. She stated that she saw a rabbi grab a student
improperly in the buttocks area. She reported the incident to
an administrator who passed it off as "a rebbe's show of
affection." The individual who saw the inappropriate action
protested! She stated, "It was wrong to grab a boy in that
area." Now, dear reader, I have investigated this matter.
A former rebbe of that institution related that this was not
the only time an incident of this nature occurred. He stated
that he had spoken with parents who removed their child from
that institution because of similar actions. A man in that community
stated that he had spoken with a former student of that institution
who removed himself from Jewish learning entirely because of
an incident that occurred there. Here we have three separate
incidents regarding the same institution and the same rabbi.
I spoke with rabbium in that institution and the Rav of the community,
and no one did anything!!

THAT IS WRONG! That is cover-up. That is looking
the other way. That community continues to look the other way.

When a Jewish institution hires illegal immigrants
to work in the kitchen and janitorial areas of their school,
it is wrong. It is illegal to hire anyone who does not have a
green card. To pay illegal immigrants under the table is also
wrong. Looking the other way is wrong! Justifying these actions
is wrong.

Dear reader, we are approaching Rosh Ha Shanah
and Yom Kippur. So how can we continue to justify our actions
if they are wrong? How can we continue to look the other way?
And holy reader, it is time for us to stop justifying our sins
and our cover-ups ... it is time for us to grow up to be REAL
JEWS! We need to be the kind of a Jew that G-d intended for us
to be!

In our parsha this week we have two Gematrial
phrases:

First, ... " ... and the revealed (matters)
are ours and our children's forever ... " Deuteronomy 29:28.
We have five Gematrial words as follows:

The Gematrial union of these two phrases emphasizes
our responsibility of observing exactly what Hashem has said
in the Torah! When we observe what Hashem has said, then we realize
our responsibility to live sinless, righteous lives and to stop
justifying our petty indiscretions. We are to obey His Torah
exactly!!

Unfortunately, most of us commit many more
petty sins on a regular basis than we care to acknowledge. I
dislike using the word petty because it gives the impression
that these sins are unimportant. It gives the impression that
these sins do not matter. THIS IS A FALSE IMPRESSION! In fact
when we stand before Hashem on Rosh Ha Shanah and Yom Kippur,
most of us will stand there not as murderers and not as bank
robbers but as petty sinners who for the most part have ignored,
overlooked and not considered these little "so-called petty
matters ." Unfortunately, in our view of what is correct
and what is wrong, we have mixed white with black and now have
gray. Trivial sins seem to fall into an area that we label acceptable.
We have labeled
what we consider to be insignificant, to be petty and have therefore
negated the seriousness of these sins.

So when we stand on Rosh Ha Shanah and Yom
Kippur praying, we need to focus on the purpose of Rosh Shanah
and Yom Kippur. They are the days that Hashem set aside for repentance,
for shuvah and for returning. That is exactly what this subject
is about. The exact purpose of all this is to acknowledge not
that we are murderers, not that we are bank robbers, but that
we have failed in the trivial, in the seemingly insignificant
and small, petty matters. Why? Because these are our areas of
greatest failures! These are the areas that we do not give significant
consideration to. It is about these areas that we need to repent
and seek forgiveness.

Speeding, parking in the handicapped area,
paying under the table, looking the other way, eating produce
that's not paid for in the grocery store, avoiding taxes and
other such areas ... these are the revealed areas to us and to
our children. These are the areas that we need to observe exactly
as the Torah instructs us! A real Jew will take these matters
to heart and carefully observe them. A real Jew will stop issuing
immunities for petty sins.

Wishing you the best,

Dr. Akiva G. Belk

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